I tell people we are not commissioners. We are firefighters. We keep putting out fires." Commissioner Joe Knight.

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- After three years of a tumultuous first term in office some Jefferson County Commissioners say the job just doesn't feel the same.

"I tell people we are not commissioners," said Commissioner Joe Knight. "We are firefighters. We keep putting out fires. This year has been tremendously intense just because we can't seem to catch our breath. It's one thing after the other after the next."

The County Commission's third term ends Saturday and a fourth and final term begins Sunday.

Commissioners Knight, David Carrington, Sandra Little Brown, Jimmie Stephens and George Bowman took office Nov. 10, 2010. Their time in office has seen fiscal woes, legal challenges and natural disasters.

"This commission has faced numerous issues that no other county in the United States has ever faced," Brown said.

Those do not take into account forcing sewer creditors to eat approximately $1.5 billion in debt as part of an amended financing plan that could allow the county to emerge from bankruptcy in eight weeks.

All of decisions have come with some questions and some criticism.

AL.com last week listed a number of risks involved with the county's bankruptcy exit plan and Commissioner George Bowman has said rate increases in the financing would have a negative impact on the poor.

"The rate increases will affect all citizens of Jefferson County that are on the sewer regardless of race, class, gender," Bowman said. "All of our citizens, our Caucasian citizens, Black citizens, Hispanic citizens and the corporate community will also be impacted."

Sewer rates will increase for the next 40 years to pay for the refinanced warrants and could be higher than projected based on interest rates and capital expenditures.

Still, gaining enough creditor concessions to possibly come out of the second largest government bankruptcy in U.S. history after two years may be the biggest accomplishment of the term for the commission.

"If the county achieves its aggressive goal of exiting bankruptcy by the end of the year, the dark cloud of corruption and hopelessness will have been removed and the county can re-focus its energies on economic development and job creation," Commission President David Carrington said.

With the bankruptcy possibly behind some other issue remain. For example:

Cooper Green

Cooper Green Mercy Hospital closed on Jan. 1 and reopened as an urgent care clinic. Some doctors have called the downsizing of the hospital an "abject failure." Stephens has called the downsizing a "miscalculation" and Dr. Wally Retan, an internist who came out of retirement to work at Cooper Green said the facility is "bleeding professionals."

County officials said in-patient care for the indigent would be provided by other area hospitals through contractual agreements with the county. That never happened. Only UAB has such an arrangement.

As for the abject failure, Carrington said, "Actually, the prior Cooper Green model was an abject failure, where millions of additional dollars were siphoned annually from general fund reserves and it took months for patients to get an appointment with a doctor.

"While the county manager has not implemented the new model as quickly as I would have liked, I am confident that exiting in-patient care in order to focus the available funds on primary care and outpatient services was the correct one," Carrington said.

Stephens put the problems at Cooper Green on the county manager's office. "When the county voted in August of last year (to downsize the hospital) our job was done and it was up to the county manager to implement those changes," Stephens said. "The difficulties that we have had has been the lack of implementation of those changes."

Car tag lines

Some county residents continue to wait up to four hours for car tags and other motor vehicle services. The commission has been dealing with the matter since coming into office.

Last month the commission approved an agreement with Tuscaloosa County to install a computer software system in Jefferson's revenue department. The deal provides the software for Jefferson's vehicle tag registration and renewals.

Stephens said new technology should help reduce wait times. "The change would mean going from a 1960s type of government which was short on technology and labor intensive to a 21st century county government that relies highly on technology," Stephens said.

Other items of note from the commission's third year in office:

-- In February, the commission approved the sale of the Jefferson Rehabilitation Health Center, more commonly known as the county nursing home to Tara Jane, LLC.

-- In April, County attorney Jeff Sewell resigned involuntarily after a commission committee voted to terminate his employment contract. In May, the commission appointed Birmingham attorney Carol Sue Nelson as the county's first lead female county attorney.

-- In August, U.S. District Judge Lynwood Smith said it would be inefficient to allow current county leaders more time to comply with a federal consent decree on their own when they have proven themselves "incapable of doing so during the two years they have held the reins of power." Smith ordered a receiver to oversee the county's Human Resources Department.